Hirsh, John C.
C. David Benson and Elizabeth Robertson, eds. Chaucer's Religious Tales (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1990), no.130), pp. 161-70.
Examining both ecclesiastical and societal patriarchies, SNT addresses medieval concepts of power, authority, and autonomy. It places Cecilia's spiritual vision in the context of a broader secular and sacred order.
A comparison of Chaucer's narrators and the narrative voices of the "Roman" may clarify the continuing debates on the characteristics of his narrators, their function within the dream poems, and their relation to other narrative voices.
Blamires, Alcuin.
Karl Josef Holtgen, Peter M. Daly, and Wolfgang Lottes, eds. Words and Visual Imagination: Studies in Interaction of English Literature and the Visual Arts. (Erlangen: Universitatsbibliothek Erlangen-Nurnberg, 1988), pp. 11-31.
Medieval concepts of love and sex were derived from the worship of Venus, the goddess of love. Art of the period shows men worshipping Venus, as well as men and women trying to win each other's love.
Herzman, Ronald B.
American Benedictine Review 33 (1982): 325-33.
Symkyn's name is diminutive of Simon and thus calls up the story of Simon the Magician as found in the Acts of Peter. In a larger sense the rise and inevitable fall of pride that is the tales structural skeleton gains resonance when placed against…
Olson, Glending
Modern Language Quarterly 35 (1974): 219-30.
Argues that in its concern with social pretension and its atmosphere of "game and contest," RvT is better regarded as a comic fabliau than as a tale of vengeance that reflects its teller. Compares and contrasts RvT with several fabliaux, including…
Frank, Robert Worth, Jr.
Stanley Weintraub and Philip Young, eds. Directions in Literary Criticism: Contemporary Approaches to Literature (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1973), pp. 53-69.
Reads RvP as a "confession of old age" and RvT as a "tribute" to unrestrained passion and an extension of the concern with love in KnT and MilT. Compares RvT with its analogues, and comments on its characterizations, the straightforwardness of its…
Chaucer's improvements result from adapting source to the framework of CT--giving the tale to the highly individualized Reeve, whose emphasis upon "quitting" the Miller requires that Symkin become the strongest character in the tale. The most…
Benson, Larry D.
Paul Strohm and Thomas J. Heffernan, eds. Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Proceedings, No. 1, 1984 (Knoxville, Tenn.: New Chaucer Society, 1985), pp. 23-47.
Discusses bawdy words, obscenities, and euphemisms in Chaucer,exposing fallacies in overzealous scholarly search for obscene puns.
Tolmie, Sarah.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 22: 281-309. , 2000.
Assesses aspects of "Regement of Princes" to demonstrate Hoccleve's poetic subtlety, especially the ways he capitalizes on the idea that as a member of the "emergent administrative class," he had "restricted information." Discusses Pandarus of TC as…
Friedman, Albert B.
Chaucer Review 9 (1974): 118-29.
Challenges critics who absolve Chaucer of anti-Semitism by blaming the Prioress instead. Anti-Semitism was rife in Chaucer's society, and he was likely complicit in the bias. Yet, the topic is a critical distraction in discussions of PrT, which…
Examines how song and sound create narrative meaning within PrT. Chaucer's choice of using the antiphon, "Alma redemptoris mater," reveals the "transformative force that sound bears." Discusses issues of performance, voice, and silences; aural…
Describes how the Boethian concept of divine (fore)knowledge of eternity underlies various aspects of TC and explores how narrative devices, allusions, the treatment of time, and the epilogue evoke the "illusion of 'present eternite' for the reader…
The vivid details of Decameron 7.3 (the story of Friar Rinaldo)-the corrupt clergy, their obesity and sweating faces, their rich foods and wine, together with the simplicity of the widow's life-suggest that Boccaccio's work may have inspired NPT as a…
The Host's aversion to this tale is a clue to its interpretations: the narrator, a typical medieval physician, reveals himself and his profession through his narration. The death of Virginia is emblematic of the Physician's lack of concern for his…
Studies aspects of PhyT that derive from hagiography, particularly its emphasis on Virginia as a "virgin martyr," not found in Chaucer's sources. As a result of Chaucer's various changes and genre modifications, the tale raises "grave questions of…
Leon Sendra, Antonio R.,and Francisco J. Garcia De Quesada.
Purificacion Fernandez Nistal and Jose Ma Bravo Gazalo, eds. Proceedings of the VIth International Conference of the Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature (Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, 1995), pp. 207-16.
Assesses the Physician as a skillful practitioner and comments on PhyT, audience response to the tale, sources, arrangement of materials, and Chaucer's message.
Windeatt, Barry.
English Miscellany 26-27 : 79-103, 1977-78.
In TC, Chaucer's "greater vehemence," his increase in specificity, and his heightening of emotion characterize his adaptations of Boccaccio's "Filostrato."
Comparison with contemporary documents show ParsT to be a manual for penitents; homiletic elements are minimal and the appeal is to reason rather than the emotions. Despite numerous minor inconsistencies ParsT has a clear and effective structure. …
The 'certyn thyng' the narrator deludedly pursues through scholarly exploration is the necessity of undergoing experience (i.e., entering the gates "for better of for worse") to discover the meaning of love. Nature's concern for the "commune profyt"…
It has been argued that the poem exhibits multiplicity and disharmony, though the poet shows a commitment to traditional forms of culture. There is no such commitment in PF. The multiplicity of authority and the "continuous self-reflexivity" does…
Lynch, Kathryn L.
Chaucer Review 25 (1990): 1-16; 85-95.
Although PF clearly treats love and courtship, its most central or motivating problems is the relationship between choice and will or understanding. Chaucer demonstrates a more thoroughly informed engagement with contemporary philosophy than critics…
Baker, Donald C.
Beryl Rowland, ed. Companion to Chaucer Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 428-45.
Substantive criticism of PF really begins in 1935 with Bronson, who stated that the poem is a study of contrasts between man's views of love. Later critics have elaborated this view, noting the polarities of the work: the "Somnium" and the garden,…
